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2018-04-26 China-Japan-Koreas

How America's Mistakes In The Middle East Are Benefiting China

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Posted by g(r)omgoru 2018-04-26 12:01|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 This guy's observations are so trivial they're a waste of time, in composition as well as in perusal by whatever audience unfortunate enough to read it to its conclusion. It's a given that friendlies, neutrals and hostiles not actually fighting will all benefit from US actions that help stabilize a given region. Removing Saddam from the equation meant no more Kuwait-style invasions and no nukes for Iraq. For a while.

It's the nature of these wars. People are innumerate about wartime expenditures. $2.2 trillion sounds like a lot of money. But it's under 15% of an $19T economy. By the end of the Vietnam War in 1973 (for US forces), the US had spent roughly the same %, relative to US GDP at the time. And lost about 60K men.

Note that there was a lot that was unstated*, but Muslim countries got the (9/11-related) message anyway. Screw with US and you will pay the price. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But one day, when you're teetering on the edge of a cliff, we'll give you a nudge.

* Bush said "Islam is a religion of peace" because we needed the help of local Muslim allies and collaborators. But he sure did tighten scrutiny of Muslim crazies domestically.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2018-04-26 18:22|| 2018-04-26 18:22|| Front Page Top

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